Electronic properties of Li-doped zigzag graphene nanoribbons

•Electronic properties of Li-doped ZGNR are investigated.•Spin polarized calculations are carried out with DFT.•ZGNR is exhibited half metallic or semiconductor behavior.

Zigzag graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs) are known to exhibit metallic behavior. Depending on structural properties such as edge status, doping and width of nanoribbons, the electronic properties of these structures may vary. In this study, changes in electronic properties of crystal by doping Lithium (Li) atom to ZGNR structure are analyzed. In spin polarized calculations are made using Density Functional Theory (DFT) with generalized gradient approximation (GGA) as exchange correlation. As a result of calculations, it has been determined that Li atom affects electronic properties of ZGNR structure significantly. It is observed that ZGNR structure exhibiting metallic behavior in pure state shows half-metal and semiconductor behavior with Li atom.